AN: this is part of a personal challenge/project filling all the prompts of past Kadam weeks, and posting one every day from March 28 to May 8th, 7 prompts per year 5 previous rounds (2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017 last two managed by vcg73) the first week of May 2-8 will present to you the offering for the Kadam Week 2021 you can search for more on tumblr
This is the offering to Kadam Week 2013 prompt 3: AU
Kurt couldn't believe it, or better yet he totally could believe that but at the same time it irked him immensely.
When Nyada hadn't panned out and he got his rejection letter Kurt went to his fall back plan, Parson and fashion. He was great, his portfolio opened for him many doors, including a paid internship at and being granted the chance to walk through the backstage of some of the most intriguing Broadway costume shops.
He hadn't forgotten his passion for singing but most of the time he went to it for comfort and to motivate himself. Maybe that rejection letter had come as the final straw that drove home the point he would have never been seen as the kind of performer who was wanted the stage. And if that was to be how the world viewed him, well then fine by him, he could make his name shine in other ways, and design and fashion was that way.
The point though, was that right now he had been roped into helping with a theatre production, a master program project if Kurt recalled correctly, Elliot had not given him many details besides the fact that it was really urgent and a real emergency. It was the classic a friend of a friend is in a tight spot and you could save the day. The 'please I'll be in debt for you for the rest of my life', and 'I'm going to offer you my firstborn child' level of big deal kind of favour.
And if there was one thing that despite it all hadn't been snuffed out of Kurt yet, it was the soft heart and the desire to take care of his friends whenever he could. New York had been good for Kurt on that front, actually walking away from the members of New Directions had been good for Kurt as well.
Finn couldn't understand why he hadn't wanted anything to do with the people who used to be their friends. And in all honesty Kurt had been unable to properly elaborate, how much it had hurt when every single one of them, except Finn and surprisingly Noah, had expected Kurt to remain in Lima for a whole year to wait around and quietly give up his own dreams and hopes for the future only to supposedly support the hobbit who shall never be mentioned ever again.
It wasn't just that everyone seemed to believe in that absurd notion. It was also that they had assumed he had been as much of a basket case as Rachel Berry, believing her utter none sense of thinking that sending applications to all the possible colleges that might want to get him was a sign that he didn't believe enough in himself and his abilities.
By the time college applications were to be sent out, Kurt had been way too familiar with Rachel's backhanded way to make sure she could sabotage anyone who she believed could be competition to believe a single thing out of her mouth. Especially after the students' president fiasco.
There was no way he would have been willing to risk being stuck in the hell hole that was Lima Ohio for even a nanosecond longer than he reasonably could. He had been dreaming of leaving for as long as he could recall.
To top off of his displeasure at having the time to indulge in such disagreeable thoughts, the guy he was supposed to help was late… This was what it was coming down do. He had bargained his help for modelling services, trading his valuable time to fix what promised to be a complete costume related disaster in exchange for Elliot to willingly become his model for one of Kurt projects.
Oh, how he wanted to play dress up with a model like Starchild, willing and able to pull off the craziest design Kurt could imagine. All presented to him in the form of a well fit body, wrapped in the ability to take care of his own makeup...
Kurt was taking the time to consider exactly which price of his final project would be a perfect fit for his friend, when a clear voice with a distinctively British accent interrupted his musing "I'm so so sorry it took me so long to get here mate, you don't know how grateful I am that one of Mey's friends knew someone who could walk in here like a knight with shiny scissors and attempt to save me from failing my final project."
Kurt's irritation ebbed away seeing the pleading hopeful look into the blond man's eyes. While he hadn't really cared much before about what he could do to fix the issue, after all he had Elliot where he wanted just for the single reason of having shown up to take a look, before even declaring whether it was salvageable or not. All that without even having to guarantee his own help, nor that he could offer his brand of small wardrobe miracles. In fact he had been assured it would have been perfectly ok if he couldn't help at all, that just his opinion on what to do was more than enough to earn the boon.
Kurt took another moment to look at the other man before offering a small smile "Well I don't know about shiny knights, but I do have shiny scissors with me, no promises about what it could be done to help the situation, I can take a look and let you know what I think of it, see if, or what could be done to fix the situation, but do not expect miracles ok?"
When the other man nodded Kurt offered his hand and said with a smile "By the way, I'm Kurt" and received in return a brilliant smile and his hand being taken and shaken enthusiastically "I'm Adam, and believe me as far as I'm concerned it is already a miracle you're standing here and were willing to help. I have heard from some of my friends that you prefer avoiding Nyada's students, and you don't know just how grateful I am for the fact that you've accepted to at least take a look and maybe even point me out toward someone who could do the actual fixing, since you're probably too busy to actually add this to your workload"
Kurt stiffened and mentally cursed Elliot, of course there must have been a catch to grant that level of boon, and the vile, manipulative backstabbing, sneaker had sent Kurt to the deep end and unleashed on him a handsome and humble man. Jeez way to hit below the belt…
It was true that Kurt preferred avoiding Nyada's students, both Nyada and NYU had in their performing art programs the costume design specialisation, there was no need nor reasonable reason to bother him, a fashion student with costume design, to take care of such things...
He could do the thing, probably even better than most, but why should he put himself out there, wasting time he could use for many other things, when Nyada clearly hadn't wanted him in any capacity?
And if that made him sour, well they had plenty of other people to bother anyway... But Adam hadn't done anything to deserve Kurt's scorn, in fact he seemed so grateful to not just have been ignored and left in his own misery, he was more than willing to just get only a suggestion out of the meeting, even if it was something that he clearly needed helping with, and in a timely manner at that.
Soldiering on Kurt forced himself to relax and took a deep breath "Well let's see what we have here before making any decision, shall we?"
Adam nodded and led the way inside the theatre "What happened is that my costumer dropped out of school and quit working on my project without a word. It was over the weekend so I thought that not hearing from them was simply a matter of waiting till monday for the update. You know allowing them to work on it during the weekend in peace. I didn't want to micromanage how they should do their work, but my problem was evident when I got here today, I heard from the grape wine at school how they dropped out, and once here there was no note but also no costumes. Just this half completed mess... And while I did take a costume and design mandatory class during my degree, my master is for playwriting, arranging and composing. There's no way I'd be able to fix this, or actually understand the notes left behind in time for our dressed rehearsal on friday..."
Kurt looked around and indeed the costume area was a mess, not a single piece was finished. And the majority of what, Kurt figured out, were supposed to be garments, looked more like scraps of fabrics barely held together by horribly made stitches... He looked at Adam and asked in a business like manner "I need to look through this but the first impression is that there's nothing finished at all, which would mean that there has to be more work to be done, any chance you know where the original concepts are kept and where to find the measurements for all the cast? In fact, I do need to know how large is your cast? Would they be willing to come in for a fitting as soon as their costumes are ready?"
Kurt took a quick breath and before realising it he found himself pleading softly "Please tell me you do not expect many costume changes throughout your production" his mind already working on organising and listing all that needed to be done and how it would fit his schedule as he pondered on what he could afford to postpone to make sure this mess could be sorted in time.
Adam moved with precise determination and picked up from a drawer a cartel holding the original sketches, and then took out a notebook from his own bag that had all the measurements before duly starting answering the questions as Kurt checked all the half made costumes one by one.
"Well there's only four of us in the cast and yes, as the other three are my friends and know how important this project is for my graduation they will manage to find a moment to come in when it's needed, even if in theory it should have been today, and that obviously is not feasible. Though life is a little busy for us all, so it might be that we'd have to at least try to schedule the priority of the costumes based on personal availability. Most of us also have a job to pay the bill, so we cannot really drop and arrive at a moment notice but if it could be arranged to be as accommodating as possible about everyone's previous engagements it would be truly appreciated. And no, actually my piece is made by a series of vignettes and there is no need for any costume change through the whole production, it's just a matter of adding, removing or trading props, which are actually all already ready.
Kurt nodded, after finally having a clear picture of the situation he turned to Adam and continued seriously "Few more questions, starting with can I see those props and can you walk me through to the part they play in your story, the usual how vital they are to the representation of concept and such."
Adam looked excited at the prospect and said quickly "Give me a sec and I can show 'em to you" Kurt had barely the time to see him nod before Adam dashed into an adjacent room returning after a couple of minutes with a chest containing a delicate looking jewelled crown, a sword, a rolled up paper, what looked like a pair of finely sparkling wings and a staff.
Kurt looked at the assorted idem and blurted out instinctively "Is the cape missing or the previous costumer had decided to pull an Edna Mode?"
Adam laughed and trying to resume his normal breathing as his eyes were shining with mischief he said "Oh darling the No cape was completely my idea, I was down to allow a certain amount of leeway for their own creativity since it should have ended up as a practical project for school for them as well, but I did draw my line and stuck to my guns, no cape, there was no chance we could risk the kind of incidents capes simply invite"
Kurt found himself laughing as well before he realised he was doing so. Adam was nothing like the other stuck up jerks he had the displeasure of knowing and meeting from Nyada "Shall I take from your comment then that you're not committed and fully set on the original costume designs?"
Adam shook his head, "Not at all, if it'd become easier to just get a new design from scratch instead of trying to salvage what's left behind, then by all mean, so be it, as long as they don't clash with the props or the rest of the set I'll be more than grateful to not have to walk on stage in my briefs and a toga made from a sheet"
Kurt then studied Adam with a speculative look before asking concisely "Let's say that I'd be willing to put on the work, what about the material for the costumes, and what about compensation?"
It was a brazen move and Kurt knew it, but he had been burnt too many times before, he didn't want to risk once more doing a favour to someone just to have them stepping all over him. However, to Kurt's surprise, Adam passed the test without blinking or losing his smile "I can offer you substance for every night you have to spend on this, I still have some budget left for the costumes though if some of the fabric already in here could be used that would be rad. That said I do have few friends who could have some stash they might be willing to part with just to pinch in and help with my project. I do not expect you to pay for doing me a favour, especially considering how rushed it all is and how much outside of your usual comfort zone is working with students of my school. "
Kurt was completely taken aback, Adam was good looking and pragmatic. He had a good sense of humour and a passion for his craft. He was considerate and kind. He also not only treated Kurt's own craft with respect but had enough sense to have realistic expectations.
From everything Kurt had learnt so far about him, Adam seemed like the kind of man Kurt could easily fall in love with.
With a half smile on his face and a flirty tone in his voice Kurt retorted playfully "That sounds almost fair, what about adding to it cheesecake and you modelling for me on my final project if I'm going to save yours?"
Adam's eyes lighten up and his smile grew bigger "I know this lovely cafe that has a pretty decent cheesecake, makes a mean cuppa and it's not too far from here. We could discuss all the details over there."
Kurt turned to fully face Adam with a teasing grin on his face "Are you asking me out on a date?" Adam in turn grinned back "If you'd be interested in dating me despite my education then the answer to that is yes. Otherwise, I am still more than happy to offer cheesecake and a warm beverage in this grey afternoon while you kindly explain to me what you need from friends who model for you for your final project."
Kurt's grin turned into a soft smile and for the second time he offered Adam his hand "Guess it will be my turn asking you out for our next date then."
Adam beamed as he took Kurt's hand in his and led them outside.